Golfweek Magazine Bestows Praise Upon Southwest Oklahoma Randy Heckenkemper Design
(Southwest Oklahoma) – The Territory, a golf and residential community near the town of Duncan, today announces that it garnered a spot in Golfweek’s 2007 ranking of the Top 50 Best New Courses in the United States.
Golfweek defines new courses as those having opened in the past three calendar years (2005-2007) and the ranking takes into account overall strength of routing, feature shaping, natural setting, greens, variety and memorability of holes, conditioning and maintenance, landscape management and other criteria. Golfweek, which has a readership of more than 500,000, sends approximately 400 "America’s Best" raters in search of the country’s finest golf courses. Those raters submit ballots grading on a 10-point scale and the scores for each course are averaged to get the overall rating.
"When we set out to create The Territory our goal was to build something that would stand the test of time and be one of the finest clubs anywhere, on and off the course," says Rick Braught, who along with wife Barbara, own The Territory. "We’re honored to receive this prestigious recognition and it is extremely gratifying as our vision from Day One has been to be a top-notch golf club and residential community."
The Territory joins high-profile courses such as Bandon Trails (Bandon, Ore.), designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and Liberty National, the $129 million layout from architects Bob Cupp and Tom Kite.
Hard on the Chisholm Trail, amid the rolling hills and native grasses which define The Territory’s terrain, the Randy Heckenkemper-designed golf course features five sets of tees (ranging from 4,845 to 7,110 yards), a state-of-the-art training facility and a three-hole short course.
"From the moment we stepped onto this property, we knew this was a special piece of land on which to build a championship golf course," says Heckenkemper. "The terrain dictated many of the holes, while the rest fell beautifully into place."
In its first years of operation, The Territory has already hosted the state amateur, state senior amateur and an NCAA Division II Super Regional. In addition, the course will host an Adams Golf Pro tour Series tournament in 2008.
Not only is The Territory within a short drive of lakes for boating and fishing and mere minutes from a pair of schools, shopping, dining and churches, but also the Duncan Regional Hospital was named to the Solucient Top 100 Hospitals – a list of more than 3,000 hospitals that identifies industry benchmarks by recognizing U.S. hospitals that have achieved excellence in quality of care, operational efficiency, financial performance and adaptation to the environment.
For more information on The Territory, call 580.475.0075 or visit www.territorygolf.com.
About The Territory
The Territory is a golf and country club community located in Southwest Oklahoma. The course is a modified target-golf layout that offers playability and enjoyment to players of all ages and skill levels. The greens are an A1-A4 creeping bentgrass blend, the tees, fairways and roughs are Tifsport Bermudagrass and native vegetation frames the playing corridors.
Prospector’s Ridge, the first planned phase at The Territory, is in the early stages of development. Prices of lots available range from $61,000 to $144,000. Were a similar, high-quality property like The Territory located in the nearby Dallas-Fort Worth area it would likely cost three times as much.
Owners Rick and Barbara Braught – members of the McCasland Oil family – are graduates of the University of Oklahoma and remain active through university fund raising, support and holding season tickets to Sooner athletic events. Barbara (BA 1986, MBA 1990) is the granddaughter of T.H. McCasland – the founder of Mack Oil Company – and serves as Executive Director of the McCasland Foundation, while Rick (BBA 1984, MBA 1989) oversees numerous companies.
Contact:
Dan Shepherd; dshepherd@billycaspergolf.com
Buffalo Communications; 703-891-3320
Rob Thomas; rthomas@billycaspergolf.com
Buffalo Communications; 330-696-1476
